Jobs, health care, education,
those are basic human rights.
[Enrique Cerna] It offers a wealth of vital services.
Now, El Centro de la Raza is turning 50.
A new establishment honors baseball's forgotten glory in Seattle.
Like, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.
But there's a bar dedicated to a team
that was playing in a Negro baseball league.
After years of planning, mountain bike enthusiasts have a new place to ride.
These stories and more next on City Stream.
Hello, I'm Enrique Cerna
and welcome to City Stream
from Discovery Park.
(uplifting music)
Earlier this month,
this park celebrated its golden anniversary.
For 50 years, it's been an ideal getaway to hike through dense forest,
walk through meadows, or explore Puget Sound tide pools.
At 534 acres.
It's the city's largest park filled with stunning views and a rich history.
This month also
marks the 50th anniversary of El Centro de la Raza,
one of the region's premier community organizations.
What started as a peaceful occupation of an old Beacon Hill school by Chicano activists
has become what's called the beloved community, with an emphasis
on affordable housing, job training, early learning and child care.
After 50 years of social service and racial justice advocacy,
El Centro's leaders say they have much more to do.
(inspirational music)
Roberto Maestas said,
We took this over in your name for the yet unborn and future generations.
This is your home and everyone is welcome.
(funky music)
[Enrique Cerna] October 1972.
Seattle is dealing with fallout from the Boeing bust
protest against the Vietnam War and demands
for equity and opportunity from communities of color.
[Roberto Maestas] What it meant, I think, to a Chicano community was ...
[Enrique Cerna] At the time Roberto Maestas
is leading an English as a second language program
that serves as a focal point for a growing Chicano community.
[Roberto Maestas] It developed into a program that addressed itself
to grassroots people.
[Enrique Cerna] but then it was defunded.
(gavel slams down)
Efforts to get the city to save the program
and to provide a place for it to exist, go nowhere.
Maestas and other Chicano activists decide to take action.
They set their sights on the vacant rundown Beacon Hill School.
On October 11th, they show up saying they want to take a look inside.
[Estela Ortega] All of these people started coming up the sidewalk and the maintenance
person saw that and he turned to Roberto and gave him the key
and said, When you're done, lock up.
And of course, we were never done.
The occupation lasts three months.
And they did it in a peaceful way
without violence.
I think the thing that makes it so successful
is that the community came and supported them.
[Enrique Cerna] A deal is finally reached.
The building is leased to the activists for $1 a year.
El Centro de la Raza, a center for people of all races,
is born. The real work begins.
Now we have this building.
Now we have this opportunity.
How are we going to move this forward?
[Enrique Cerna] El Centro's leadership set out to implement Dr.
Martin Luther King's philosophy of building a beloved community
that stands for justice, opposes hate, aids those in need,
and helps the community help themselves to succeed and thrive.
[Roxana Amaral] It started off with education.
Right, then it started off with finding resources for food
and other things that our community needed.
[Enrique Cerna] Child care, preschool and youth programs are created
along with efforts to aid families, seniors, immigrants and the unhoused.
Yeah, I can put your motion on the time we talk about it.
Board chair Roxanna Amaral knows
firsthand how El Centro can change lives.
When her family came to Seattle from Mexico.
It was El Centro that helped them find their way in a new city and country.
It's been an honor to not only be a recipient
and also receive the care that we received as immigrant children
and then being able to build our skills
and set our foundation to then help others thrive.
[Enrique Cerna] As years became decades, El Centro
stayed true to building a beloved community.
[Tim Otani] This is more of a commitment to a way of life, a calling.
[Enrique Cerna] That commitment and calling did not go unnoticed.
El Centro is advocacy for social justice and economic
opportunity, made it a player in political circles.
There was an audience there they could no longer ignore.
And when people came together and spoke out together
and voted together, it gets noticed.
[Enrique Cerna] You also get noticed when you take on a $45
million capital project that creates
Plaza Roberto Maestas, with affordable housing,
retail, office, event, and early childhood development space.
[Tim Otani] I think it took their respect level up in some sectors
in the nonprofit community and people sat back and said, Oh,
look at that.
(emotional music)
[Enrique Cerna] Today, El Centro de la Raza
provides 43 programs and services.
This year, it will serve more than 22,000 people
[Estela Ortega] jobs, health care, education,
the housing that those are basic human rights.
[Enrique Cerna] Amidst the pandemic, racial reckoning
and uncertain times, El Centro is planning for the future.
It is developing projects to meet the growing need
for low income housing, child care and other services.
In Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood.
And it's expanding in federal way and South King County,
where Latinos now make up 56% of the population.
El Centro just has demonstrated year after year, decade after decade,
that they're in for the long haul
and they're committed.
It is amazing that El Centro has lasted 50 years
and now we're celebrating our 50th anniversary and it just seems so natural
that we'll be here for generations and generations to come.
- Vive centro de la Rosa.
As I mentioned, El Centro is expanding in South King County.
In fact, it has purchased Pattison's West Skating Center,
a popular roller rink that was in jeopardy of being torn down.
Pattison's is best known for being a training ground for Olympic speed
skating stars, including gold medalist Apolo Ohno
and silver medalist J.R. Celski.
Just ahead on City Stream, they sparkled on the diamond.
Now a new exhibit honors some of the city's long forgotten
baseball stars.
(upbeat music)
City Stream returns from Discovery Park,
a popular place to escape the busy city and explore nature.
But beyond its many recreational opportunities.
This area also has a fascinating past.
(happy music)
Before becoming Discovery Park in 1972.
This was home to Fort Lawton,
a U.S. Army post during World Wars One and Two, and the Korean War.
At one point, it housed 20,000 soldiers.
Many centuries earlier, this was a gathering spot for native peoples,
including the Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
The connection to its indigenous roots
came full circle in 1977
with the opening of the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center behind me.
Recently, City Stream devoted an entire program to Daybreak Star,
its mission, its many programs and its cultural connections.
If you're interested, go to our Web site, Seattle Channel dot org.
Select the features shows tab,
then click on City Stream and you'll see the Daybreak Star program
among the offerings.
In the afterglow of the Seattle Mariners first playoff appearance in 21 years,
there is another kind of history
being made right across the street from T-Mobile Park.
Brian Callanan has the story of an old team, the Seattle Steelheads,
who are gaining some new fans and long overdue respect.
You could call Steelheads Alley just another bar,
but that's like trying to catch a homerun off the bat of Ken Griffey Jr.
(bat hitting a baseball)
You're not even getting close.
I don't think there's anything like this
that's happening anywhere else in the US.
That's Rodney Hines, co-owner of Métier Brewing,
whose beers are featured at Steelheads, Alley and the Hat Back Bar and Grill.
The new and eagerly anticipated taproom and restaurant that opened this season
in the old Pyramid Brewery building across from T-Mobile Park.
(traffic)
(dance music)
But along with every meal here,
you'll get a big helping of history.
(funky music)
And you get your curiosity sparked
about the Negro Baseball League, about the Latino All-Star Game,
about women who've been left out, who are now playing professional softball.
You're going to learn all of that.
This space celebrates the Seattle Steelheads, part of the first professional
black baseball league on the West Coast, the West Coast Negro Baseball Association.
We're going to be telling all of that rich history.
Hines, one of our state's very few professional black brewers,
teamed up with the Mariners.
local artists and historians to build a unique space that tells the story
of the Steelheads and other almost forgotten teams of our region's past.
The fact that there is a bar that's dedicated to a team, like I'm
getting emotional just thinking about it, but there's a bar dedicated to a team
that was playing in a Negro baseball league.
Like, we should see more of this happening across the U.S..
But just making this happen in Seattle was a bit of a miracle in itself.
There's some great stories
that are told here visually, but it's the tip of the iceberg.
That's superstar baseball historian Dave Eskenazi,
whose collection makes up a majority of the photos and artifacts
you'll see in the 150 item Steelheads Alley Display.
Their story actually starts in 1944.
The origin of the Steelheads, is they were originally
the Harlem Globetrotters traveling baseball team.
The barnstorming bunch joined the West Coast
Negro League in 1946, but not for long.
That same year, the Brooklyn Dodgers
signed Jackie Robinson, which broke Major League Baseball's color barrier.
[Dave Eskenazi] And that just hoards of talented players would follow him to the major leagues.
So that spelled the demise of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association.
A challenge which Eskenazi and others helped to turn into an opportunity
by adding to this display.
Other pieces from the past of Pacific Northwest Baseball
dating back to the 1890s.
(slow hammond organ music)
[Dave Eskenazi] There's so much great baseball and athletic history
from underrepresented communities in this region.
Again, going back 120 years.
[Brian Callanan] And for Karen Jones, the history is personal.
Well, I got my little scooter and nothing is going to keep me away.
I can't wait to get down here.
Karen's grandpa was none other than Powell Barnett,
who she'll proudly tell you, was a musician,
and the founder of the Seattle Royal Giants,
another negro league team displayed at Steelheads Alley.
Plus, later, he founded the Northwest Umpire Association.
The Seattle park that bears his name
is less than two miles away from the site of the old Sick's Stadium
where he umpired games for Seattle Rainiers baseball.
I didn't know being with him in my younger
age is going to lead to something
of this great legacy.
And it's a legacy that Karen hopes to keep adding to.
Here we have Jackson street names in the middle of the year.
It's history and it's people need to know about it.
She's brought articles and photos of her grandfather
not only to Steelheads Alley, but to an archive in Seattle
known as the Black Heritage Society of Washington State.
Located in the MOHAI Resource Center.
History does not repeat, but it rhymes.
So it continues, it builds.
(metal drawer sliding open)
The president of the BHS,
Stephanie Johnson Toliver, is a fourth generation Seattlelite, who oversees
a massive collection of black history, mostly at this archive at Georgetown,
but also right in front of fans at Steelheads Alley.
[Stephanie Johnson Toliver] So that when they look into these photographs,
they'll want to go a little bit deeper
and find out more about the history of black baseball.
[Brian Callanan] When you do, you'll see players who survived segregation and racism
and fought for integration and acceptance on and off the field
challenges that represent a lot more than just a game.
[Stephanie Johnson Toliver] It's inclusive history.
We're just a part of a broader and bigger history, a national history,
not just a Washington state history, but it informs the nation.
It's part of the Pacific Northwest's past that
present day Mariner fans are lining up to see.
Heroes of our national pastime, triumphing against the odds.
Sound familiar?
[Rick Rizz] The pitch from Acevedo.
A drive deep to right field, down the line!
The Mariners win this game 2 to 1!
[Brian Callanan] The Steelheads Alley is here to add a few more highlights
to make sure we never forget.
I mean, I think it goes back
to knowing history to give us guidance for the future.
You know, if we're not collecting the history, who's going to do it?
There's a lot of stories that they've started
to tell in this space, and there's a lot more to come.
(gospel music)
From a new establishment
just starting out to a decades old business, calling it quits.
For more than 40 years, the family run Viet Wah Supermarket
has been a popular and vital spot in Seattle's Little Saigon neighborhood.
But as producer Randy Eng explains, redevelopment and ongoing
public safety issues are forcing Viet Wah to close its doors.
My brother dragged me out
because it's the last day that
Viet Wah is open,
It's a very iconic location.
When I first came to America,
we lived like right next door.
This is where I shop.
Where do I? Where am I going to...?
I'm not going to ride to... Renton? Sah-wah?
Everything is closing!
Viet Wah!
I learned about our culture
through food.
This was frequent,
traditional visit with my grandma.
I used to go here
with my grandparents, my parents.
My grandpa
we would always go here shop every Saturday.
We made it
A full day, so we came
and got lunch here.
We went grocery shopping.
He would always buy
lottery tickets
and he would always want to win big.
Oh... snack section for sure.
I would go crazy every time.
But grandma had specific preferences
and like really specific ingredients
that you only find in grocery stores
like this.
Eventually everybody need to eat.
So I think, well, food business
is a good one to start.
In the eighties, difficult to buy
Vietnamese food.
When I drove by and I see this one,
so I come in and ask them if we can lease
the space.
He said, you want to rent this space?
You have to show me
you have
one million dollars in assests before I talk to you!
Well, I don't have that.
I think a couple of years later,
they come to me
and say, you're still interested?
Yeah, but I don't have one million.
They said, no you don’t need it.
You want it, you can have it.
That’s how we started in 1988.
That's where we start, you know.
And then we're growing very fast
and we're so busy.
I'm in every day,
and make sure the door is open.
Everyday thing, you know, in the morning
sometimes is overslept.
Oh, you know?
We started the business
when everyone from Southeast
Asia was new to this country
in this area.
So in a way that,
you know, the community
and the store have grown together
and we've established ourselves together.
We've been planning for this
for several years,
like we knew it was coming.
And so on some level
we've like mentally prepared for it.
But now that it's actually here,
it is hard to be like, Oh, today
really is the last day!
I’ll see you soon.
- We’ll see you soon.
Seeing customers say bye to our staff.
That's been really...
Oh! see?
My customer, my coworker,
everybody just like family team work
very good.
And then now we have to...
Miss seeing people and
I like social...
and missing
seeing all those customer and friend.
I think my fondest memories
have been in grocery stores.
We can't just say, oh,
we'll find another store
to replace them eventually,
You can't really replace businesses
that have built relationships
and community like this.
Let's say bye.
Yeah. Thank you for supporting us. Yeah.
It's been really touching
to know that our business
has affected people in this way
because you think of a grocery store,
it's like it's just food.
But food is so important to our lives.
To be a place
where people can go and feel at home
and feel like they belong here,
and to see things that they're familiar
with and remind them of home
or remind them of their past
or their culture or their family.
It's really powerful, I think.
Ok... seven.
Is it time? Yeah, it’s time now..
I don't think this is ever going to exist
in the same way in this neighborhood again.
(gate sliding shut)
After 40 years
that's been a pretty good run.
But also feel ready to to move on now.
While Viet Wah's
location in Little Saigon is now closed.
The family operates another store in Renton.
Up next, after a decade of work.
The wheels are finally turning on Beacon Hill.
We'll explain as City Stream continues.
(cheerful music)
♪♪
Vision checkout should have two.
My name is Stephen Burke of
Seattle IT (Information Technology).
The clinic directors and everything they know
exactly how critical IT is to the clinic.
It won't run without the IT.
There's 19 laptops, five desktops.
I have no idea how much cabling.
Cisco provides us some access points.
There's a online cloud based registration system.
Critical information for keeping the clinic running.
And then it's also used internally in the clinic
to track
patient flow, keep track of the number of patients
per day,
and make sure people get
through the steps in the clinic to correctly.
I've been doing this for 30 plus years.
I tell people this is the
most important part of my job,
the clinic, and it's the most enjoyable too.
So I normally do desktop support, but clinic,
that's the part that I enjoy and feel most
satisfied with.
Here in Discovery Park, there
are many options to hike, roam or ride a bike.
Across town a decade of planning and preparation is giving mountain bike
enthusiasts an exciting new place to hit the trails on Beacon Hill.
As producer Pete Cassam shows, the new Cheasty Greenspace project
isn't just for riders, but pedestrians, too.
(emotional music)
We're in Cheasty Greenspace
on Beacon Hill in Seattle.
It's a 33 to 43 acre forest,
depending on who you ask.
We're working on restoration and trail building in here.
The forest was covered in ivy and blackberry.
We're replanting conifer
ferns and salal and Oregon grape.
That's been the work of the community.
And we need more green space.
We need more accessible space.
We're looking for ways to reimagine the space
and to invite more people
to recreate in their own backyard.
So 2011 we proposed mountain biking.
It's a pilot program with the city of Seattle,
where if this goes successfully,
we can build some more of these
throughout Seattle.
A place designed, built
and made for the community.
Oh, perfect.
Yeah, yeah.
Where, when someone gets off work
they can do some laps.
Some kids in neighborhood
can do some laps after school
and keep them active.
Give them a place to volunteer
to build something in their community.
To be a part of it.
We've gone through public process.
We've heard voices
with different perspectives on this project.
This is too invasive as it were, into the space,
really, to the exclusive use of
of mountain bikers.
We have issues about safety,
preserving the wetlands
and the impact on wildlife and other things.
Green spaces
should be lightly used, lightly traveled.
Once you put a bunch of people
or cut a bunch of trails
or or develop an area, it's not going to go back.
What we do know
is that restoration is needed here.
We know that people need connection to nature
to live a healthy lifestyle.
And when you have a resource
like a forest right here in the city,
it makes sense to open it up
and make it as accessible as possible.
The first phase of trails that we're opening here
are going to be two mountain bike trails,
descent trails that connect to a shared use trail
to climb back up.
(relaxing music)
There's some rollers, stuff to
get a of speed going downhill
but not progressively
jumping and ripping down a hill.
But now we've made for four feet wide
walking trails
for bikes, for hikers, for people to walk their dogs
throughout the whole park
and keep them separate from the downhill trail.
(music is building)
So one of the aims for these trails
is to make it accessible
to the most amount of riders.
So we want people who have never mountain biked before,
we want them to be able to come here and feel
okay about riding these trails.
What kind of stuff might be on a trail,
do you think that you'd want to lift
your wheel over? Yes. - Sticks
Sticks. What else?
So if you can get kids
stoked on bikes at a young age,
that carries over into life. Yeah.
We're going to be partnering
with the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club to do some camps
at the new Cheasty Hill trails.
It gives kids a great
opportunity to find a new passion
that is a little bit outside
the realm of traditional athletics.
- All right,
let's come over and talk about the ramp
for a second.
Into something that's positive,
good for their health.
Being outdoors.
They're going to peddle, peddle, peddle.
We'll do our best
to stand up in our pouncing Puma position.
[Ed Ewing] What's going to activate
the space is youth programing.
And it's more than just mountain biking.
It's environmental stewardship,
you know, trail building.
Just getting students out in their
in nature in their community
and where they might not have access to this.
I did it!
Let's head up to the trails.
[Ed Ewing] You plant the seed.
Well, hopefully the students will ask,
what else is out there?
It's not about is hardness.
And it's more - it's more of funness.
It's like scary, but really, really fun.
Everybody ready?
Let's do our best to think about our s'mores braking.
Here goes nothing... help me.
We'll teach them
all the different skills from cornering
to wheel lifts
to get over obstacles on the trail,
to how to climb up a trail,
how to go down a trail safely,
how to use your brakes
correctly will give them all that foundation.
And to use this
not just for this community,
but to study how this can work
in other communities,
especially kids that have low access to nature.
Did she fall? Yeah.
It scared me Damara. - My pants are all dirty.
Damara are you okay?
I think it's really fun.
Welcome to the grand opening of the Cheasty trails.
There has been over 5000 volunteers
that have helped build this place.
It's not just about the bike trails.
It's about leaving the park
and the area
better than when we even got it in the
first place.
Three, two, one...
Because we all know that
the way we preserve something is by using it.
This trail is really gonna encourage
people to come in, see the space, use the space,
and that's how you get people to commit
to making it better and preserving it.
Yeah!
Our hope is that as these trails open, as more
and more people use them,
and enjoy it,
they'll really see that it's a positive thing for everyone.
Phase two of the project, planned for the northern section
of the green space, is slated to have a dedicated mountain
bike loop trail, hiking only trails and shared use areas.
We'll be right back.
That wraps up
this episode of City Stream from Discovery Park.
If you'd like to watch more outstanding Seattle Channel programs,
visit our Web site.
Seattle Channel dot org and click on features shows.
I'm Enrique Cerna. Thank you for watching.